Split on Anderson County mayor's request

Wednesday

Dec 26, 2012 at 5:52 PMDec 26, 2012 at 5:54 PM

Anderson County Commission has split on County Mayor Terry Frank’s request to take up to $30,000 from the pretrial release program to pay for a new part-time employee she hired earlier this month to be a fiscal analyst. Some commissioners questioned the position and pay and others said the Commission needs to support the new mayor.

by Donna Smith

Anderson County Commission has split on County Mayor Terry Frank’s request to take up to $30,000 from the pretrial release program to pay for a new part-time employee she hired earlier this month to be a fiscal analyst. Some commissioners questioned the position and pay and others said the Commission needs to support the new mayor.

The 8-8 vote at the Commission’s recent meeting in the Anderson County Courthouse effectively squelches Frank’s request, which she said would force her to go with her initial plan of laying off an employee in Budget Director Chris Phillips’ office to pay for Thomas Shope’s work.

Frank announced on Dec. 4 that she had hired Oak Ridge businessman Thomas Shope. She stated in a release, “When I campaigned for office, I pledged to internally audit the books to look for efficiency on behalf of the taxpayer. Hiring Tom is part of keeping that pledge.”

Commissioner Myron Iwanski, who served as interim county mayor prior to Frank’s election in August,

said the $30,000 transfer would be for the remainder of the fiscal year or about six months. He said this would mean the new employee would be making about $60,000 a year for about 20 hours of work a week.

Frank said she knew the $30,000 was “on the high side,” but the part time work could eventually expand into full-time work as Shope gets into the work. She pointed out that the job does not include benefits or travel expenses. She assured Iwanski that the position would not become one with a $60,000 salary.

The mayor also called Shope’s work a “trial run,” and that if he doesn’t find savings, it would not continue. She said she’d checked with several companies to work as a fiscal analyst and they would have charged much more.

Iwanski said he wasn’t being critical of the Budget Committee or Frank, but he wanted to be cautious with the budget at mid-year. He also said he didn’t want to be unfair to other department heads who have to ask for money for new positions before the budget is adopted, unlike Frank who has already added positions.

Frank said she’d done restructuring within the Courthouse since her election. In regards to her hiring of an administrative assistant, she said a secretary had not been included for the mayor in the budget and a mayor had to have one.

Frank said she was “asking for leeway” in that “we each have priorities, things we want to do” and she wasn’t on board when the budget was formed.

Commissioner Harry “Whitey” Hitchcock said the Commission increased the property tax rate this year and 2 cents of that hike was to provide revenue for the alternatives to incarceration program under Mike Baker. He said if Baker isn’t going to hire a director he would anticipate there being a reserve in that account.

Frank pointed out that she was asking for money from pretrial release, not the alternatives to incarceration program.

She explained to Commission that Shope is looking at data to determine such things as when is it more economically advantageous to buy a car for an employee to use in work rather than paying gasoline reimbursement and whether the county needs to set up and fund an IT department rather than pay $85 to $140 an hour for an outside contractor to fix computers. She said he would also provide “outside eyes” for Phillips on budget issues; and she said she anticipates Shope’s work to save money for the county and taxpayers.

Commissioner Robert McKamey said the county paid $275,000 for an operational audit for which most of the county department heads never followed its recommendations. He asked Frank what made her think that the county department heads would follow her suggestions from Shope’s findings.

A commissioner also pointed out that $108,000 was saved with Frank’s dismissal of several people in the Zoning and Public Works department and asked why didn’t she take money from that savings.

Frank said she had promised or committed to saving that money and would not go back on her promise. Commissioner Jerry White said he’d expected Frank to do the work personally instead of hiring others.

Frank said her chief of staff doubles her presence at events and other meetings at which the mayor is expected. She said he and the administrative assistant are also able to research issues for her — freeing her up to do other work. As an example, she called attention to the many people coming into the office and contacting her over the Andersonville Volunteer Fire Department membership plan.

Commissioner Robin Biloski said she thought the pretrial release money should be left in reserve. She added that Frank’s new positions had not been advertised and so many of the county’s other employees work hard and won’t make as much money as Shope.

Commissioner Steve Mead said Frank is effectively the chief executive officer of the county and business CEOs don’t do fiscal analyst work, but hire others. He said it’s maybe time for the county to adopt modern business principles.

Commissioner Zach Bates also spoke in favor of Frank’s efforts and plans.

Commissioner Tracy Wandell said no one is questioning Frank’s work ethic, but there are low-paying employees at the Courthouse and the county Budget Committee acts as a fiscal analyst in his mind.

“What this county is lacking is a leader who will lead. I expect you to be that person,” he said.

Commissioner Chuck Fritts said work in regards to the Zoning and Public Works Department is not being done effectively since she dismissed the planner and several others. Frank disagreed, saying that she could provide him with information on what issues that are currently being worked on.

In regards to the layoffs, she said that she had information on mismanagement in that department she could have provided but didn’t want to in order to protect employee or employees honor and integrity, but would provide the information if Commission wanted.